As the primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton moves on, the question of electability will become more and more important.

This moring at Century of the Common Iowan, I took a look at the 2008 electoral map. Using these numbers, Obama would be at 259 electoral votes by adding up the states that are strong democratic, likely democratic, and lean democratic.



Obama would then need to win 21 more electoral votes to get to 270 and win the election. Here are the states that are the article considered as toss ups...



Obama losing Ohio this week has brought some to question if Obama will be able to win Ohio.

By looking at recent poll numbers in these states, Obama would be able to win the nomination without winning Ohio and Florida.

Iowa (7 electoral votes)

Des Moines Register poll on 2/24
Obama 53%
McCain 36%

Survey USA poll on 2/19
Obama 51%
McCain 41%

Rasmussen on 2/21
Obama 44%
McCain 41%

New Mexico (5 electoral votes)

Survey USA poll on 2/19
Obama 55%
McCain 40%

Colorado (9 electoral votes)

Rassmussen on 2/13
Obama 46%
McCain 39%

Virginia (13 electoral votes)
Survey USA poll on 2/19
Obama 51%
McCain 45%

Rasmussen on 2/21
Obama 44%
McCain 49%

Missouri (11 electoral votes)

Survey USA on 2/19
Obama 49%
McCain 43%

Rassmussen on 2/13
Obama 40%
McCain 42%

These poll numbers suggest that Obama would win Iowa (7), Colorado (9), and New Mexico (5). This would give Obama exactly 270 electoral votes.

Obama could still pick up more electoral votes elsewhere. Obama is polling even or slightly ahead of McCain in Virginia, Missouri, and Ohio. In Virginia it looks like Mark Warner will win the Senate race easily and this could help Obama win the state. I wouldn't write off Ohio either. The economy will be a huge issue this election and McCain has even admitted that the economy is a weak issue for his campaign. Obama could win Nevada, where a recent poll had him up by 12%.

It might be true that McCain runs closer to Obama than Clinton in Ohio and Florida. The point to remember that Obama's has the ability to win the nomination without winning these states by being more competitive in many other states.

Obama would expand the map and be more competitive in Red States, including Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, and West Virginia.

From DailyKos...



When you force Republicans to play defense in more areas and couple that with Obama's ability to raise money and the Republicans difficulty raising money this year, Obama might be able to pull out victories (or help pick up Senate and House seats) in red states that have been considered longshots in recent years.

I have seen a lot of political speeches from a lot of different candidate on both sides of the political spectrum this year. This afternoon, I heard the best one of them all when Michelle Obama spoke at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

Michelle began saying that throughout her travels around the country she has noticed that, despite all the talk about what divides our nation, our nation is really close to being united behind common values. She said she is out campaigning, not necessarily because of her husband, but because of her two young girls and what their future will look like. The country today is disconnected, isolated, and full of cynicism. This is caused by our nation being guided by fear. We have become a nation afraid of everyone and everything. Fear is clouding our judgment and cuts off people from their communities and the rest of the world. Our children inherit this fear.



She then discussed her upbringing on the south side of Chicago and that she sees herself as a regular person from a working class background. She said there is nothing miraculous about her upbringing. Her parents raised her and her brother on a single city worker's salary. She said she and her brother are byproducts of the Chicago Public School System.



As a public school teacher, that line really hit home. I suddenly began to think about what the students in my 2nd grade class will be doing in 20 and 30 years. If these students aren't able to make a better living than their parents then there is no hope. Michelle and Barack Obama gives me hope, and these kids hope, that when they grow up they might just be able to become something big.

Michelle went on to say that she went on to Princeton and Harvard Law and that story nearly impossible today by the difficulties families face today. She said that most Americans don't want much, except to know that if they work hard that they can get ahead and have a better life for their children.

She discussed the lose of blue collar jobs, "NCLB sucking the life out of education", the rise of college debt, and rising health care costs.



Despite all of these concerns, we are a wealthy nation with many resources and plenty of policy and plans.



She said we are not looking after each other anymore and our democracy is suffering because of it. We are living in our own little boxes, isolated from our neighbors and communities. We are told by our leaders to not worry about and not asked to compromise and sacrifice for one another. To overcome this, we need leadership that can inspire the nation, and Barack Obama is the only candidate that can do this.

She then compared Barack's background to her background, mentioning Barack traveling around the world and experiencing other cultures when he was younger. She said his mom and grandparents sacrificed, work hard, and learned common sense values just like her family did.

Barack used these values when he passed up a job on Wall St. and chose to work as a community organizer. He then went to Harvard Law and passed up millions to work as a constitutional law professor and civil rights lawyer. Then he went to the Illinois State Senate where he rose above the dirty Illinois/Chicago style politics and passed ethics reform.

She said there is no better example of the judgment her husband possesses than the War in Iraq. People say Barack doesn't have the experience in Washington, but all of the candidates with experience in Washington got it wrong. All of the Washington politicians followed our leaders when their judgment was clouded by fear.

Michelle closed her speech by asking us to dream because if she and Barack didn't dream growing then they wouldn't be in the place they are today.

The crowd gave Michelle a standing ovation and Michelle went to shake hands. As I looked around, I saw a couple people sitting behind me wiping away tears. Everyone I talked to that was there was amazed by the speech. Even a few said that Michelle should be the one running. Not this time around, but maybe in 2016.

Originally posted at Century of the Common Iowan.

 
One of her best lines of the speech, Oprah says she isn't here to tell you what to think, but here to ask you to think.

Many of the people detained in the immigration raids that took place in December are being detained near Atlanta, where they are awaiting hearings.

According to a Des Moines Register story a few days after the raids...



The Des Moines Register had this story last month about a man, whose fiancee had been detained.



With 220 Judges that hear immigration cases, why are these people awaiting hearings in Atlanta?

A study done by the San Jose Mercury News shows...



Their research shows the strictest immigration judge during this time period was William A. Cassidy of Atlanta.

A more recent study done by the New York Times shows Atlanta ranks lowest for granting asylum.



A closer look at the immigration cases in Atlanta shows...



The people detaineed in the immigration raids are awaiting hearings in front of the most strict immigration judges in the nation. Making an example out of few isn't the type of justice our country was founded on and it certainly won't solve the problems we have with immigration.

Originally posted at Century of the Common Iowan.

John Edwards called for a halt on coal-fired power plants in Marshalltown, where a proposed $1 billion, 600 mw coal-fired power plant is being proposed by Alliant Energy.

Edwards said...



I assumed Edwards was not informed about the proposed power plant in town when I first heard this comment. However, after the event, I overheard a local reporter ask if Edwards was aware of Alliant's proposed coal-fired power plant. Edwards said he doesn't believe in changing his position based on what town he is speaking in. This makes me think Edwards knew about the plant was once again taking a principled stand on the issue.

Edward's answer came on a question about high gas prices and requiring oil companies to invest excess profits into building new refineries. Edwards used to the question to lay out his plan to curb carbon emmissions and he threw in there the comment about putting a halt on coal plants until the coal sequesteration techonolgy is available.

It will be interesting to see if the media picks up on this comment.

I am at a John Edwards event in Marshalltown. The room is packed. Probably around 200 people are here. People are standing in the doorways and out in the halls. I see a couple of city council members and local leaders from the UAW and ISEA here. Edwards is coming from Des Moines where he is taping an episode of Iowa Press that will air on IPTV tonight at 7:30 pm (Friday, June 15th) and on Sunday, June 17th at 11:30 am.

Edwards has arrived and says Elizabeth is on her way to Iowa right now and sorry she can't be here now. He says he is going to be focusing on health care, but feel free to ask him about anything.

In his health care plan you can stick with private insurance or enter a government plan that is basically Medicare plus. In his plan preventative care is 100% covered, which receives a loud applause. Currently, 30 to 40 cents on every dollar spent on health care are administrative costs. Everyone is covered in this plan which would be mandated by the government.

$90-$120 billion per year and mostly paid for by repealing Bush's tax cuts for people that make over $200,000 a year, which gets a lot of applause.

To lower costs we need to take on insurance companies and drug companies and deal with some inefficiencies that exist. Need to create competition. Require by law that 85% of money goes towards providing health care and not admin. costs.

Offer companies that development these breakthrough drugs money up front for access to the patent. Also need to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices and allow importation of drugs from Canada.

Using technology such as electronical record keeping save money and reduce the number of medical mistakes.

The big 3 car companies are spending $16-17 billion per year on health care costs and it is a large burden on these businesses.

Edwards closes his speech by saying we need strength, bold ideas, and be visionary. It will take all of us to bring about the change that is needed. Now Edwards opens it up to questions...

The first question asks if he would require oil companies to invest their large profits in building refineries.

Edwards says one long term solution is to cap carbon emissions (receives applause). He would auction off these caps, which would raise billions of dollars and then invest in renewables and build the infrastructure. He says Americans will need to conserve and uses the line Americans need to be patriotic about something other than war. He says we need to use coal sequestration technology and not build anymore coal plants until this technology is available. This was surprising to hear since there is a $1 billion coal-fired powered plant proposed to be built in Marshalltown.

The second question comes from a young kid. He asks what we can do to people that live in places like India that don't have the resources to live. Edwards says 3 billion people live on less than $1 a day. All of these things are connected and you can't look at them in isolation. Get off our addiction of foreign oil means we stop funding the terrorists. Imagine what happens if America leads the world off carbon based fuels. Oil rich countries won't be able only invest in oil production and will invest in other things like health care and education.

The third question is from John Day from Iowans for Sensible Priorities. Day asks about reducing our nuclear arsenal and using that money saved on health care and education. Edwards says he would stop building more nuclear weapons like bunker busters. America should lead on getting rid of all nuclear weapons worldwide.

The next question is how to make Social Security sustainable. Edwards says you need to talk about Medicare and Social Security. Medicare is in a tougher situation and a lot of things his health care plan would help solve some of these inefficiencies. On Social Security, it much more stable than Medicare. He would not raise the retirement age or cut benefits. He would look at changing the cap, which is currently at 90,000, and creating a bubble, so the most wealthy pay. He mentioned he doesn't think it would be far to raise taxes on a family that makes $110,000 and has kids in college. That is exactly what we don't need, but a bubble would help the situation.

Here comes the immigration question. He is asked about what he thinks about what Congress is supposedly doing about immigration. Edwards laughs at the supposedly part in the question. He says some border fence should be used, but it is ridiculous to build a fence on the entire border. He says companies should face a stricter fine if they hire people here illegally. This got the loudest applause so far. He says we shouldn't create a permanent underclass here with guest workers. We should require immigrants to learn English and allow a path for citizenship. He disagrees with the Senate bill in that it makes it requires a touch back provision, which is not able to be done by many immigrants who work paycheck to paycheck and he thinks the Senate bill had a too difficult process to gain citizenship. It would take 13 years, which is too long, and is too costly. He agrees that illegal immigrants should be fined, but the Senate bill calls for a too large of a fine.

The last question is from a high school teacher who says that her and her colleagues go to work everyday, work hard, and burdened by No Child Left Behind. What can you do about it?

Edwards says he is going to do something about, which gets some very loud applause. He says the first problem was that is has been under funded. These tests are taking away from teaching. He would test student's progress from beginning of the year to the end of the year instead of comparing one group of kids against another group. Another thing to improve education, America needs to desperately invest in early childhood education.

I didn't catch the last question. Edwards is using it to summarize the top issues, which he says are Iraq and moral leadership in the world, a health care system that is a mess, and energy. He says the two America's that he talked about in 2004 is even truer today. Some things that will help are providing universal health care, as well making college more accessible, and making it easier to join a union.

He thanks people for coming and says it is great to be back in Marshalltown. The scrum begins as the crowd converges on the candidate.

I will do a follow up post with more opinion and thoughts on his health care plan and his comment about coal-fired power plants.

Originally posted at Century of the Common Iowan.

I attended the Barack Obama event held in Marshalltown today. This was a great event with probably close to 500 people there. There were so many people that the overflow room was full. As you probably can tell, I decided not to liveblog the event, but Chase from Iowa Progress was able to. This was my second time attending an Obama event. The first was in Ames in front of 5,000 people. Here are my reports from the Ames event (part 1 and part 2).

Obama began by saying this was the 2oth county in Iowa that he has been to already and he will surely make it to all 99 counties this year. He thanks everyone who helped organize the event and all of the local elected officials. Then he goes into his bio. He talks about helping people organize in Chicago right after college and the one thing he learned is that ordinary people, when given the opportunity to work together can accomplish great things. Talks about going to Harvard, getting a job, etc. Then says when he first decided to run for state Senate people would ask him two questions. First, where did he get that funny name? Then they would ask why a nice guy like him would want to get into something dirty and nasty like politics? He said politics today is more of a business than a mission. He adds that politics doesn't have to be that way and shouldn't be that way.

Obama then says that our nation faces some big challenges. He says our health care system is broken, our education system is inadequate, we lack an energy policy, we have an economy that has never been more productive, yet we have stagnant wages, and we are in a war that never should been authorized and waged. He made sure to mention that he was against the war from the beginning, which drew applause from the crowd.

In one of his best lines of the afternoon, Obama said that some people say he shouldn't be running for President and he needs to spend more time in Washington. He replied that he has spent enough time in Washington to see that it needs to be changed.

He then outlines some priorities he would have as President. First, he sees no reason not to have Universal Health Care by the end of the next President's first term. He would put more money into early childhood education. He discusses the shortcomings of NCLB saying that we passed a bill called No Child Left Behind, but have left the funding behind. He also goes into the challenges of global climate change and that with the use of incentives. He discusses that acid rain is no longer a challenge because we used incentives that made it worthwhile for entrepreneurs and businesses to come up with solutions. He says the same can be done for carbon emissions and renewable fuels.

Obama then opens up for some questions. I was looking forward to this part since he didn't have a question portion of the event in Ames. I didn't take notes on all of the questions, but here are the ones that I did.

The first question was from a person from Benton County who does not have health insurance. She asks for some specifics on how Obama will bring about universal health care. Obama says that we spend $2 trillion per year on health care, which is far more than other industrialized nation, and are outcomes are no better and a lot of times worse. He would work to cut out some of the inefficiencies in the system. He would change to electronic records which would save money and save lives. He would stress preventative health care such as giving every senior citizen flu shots, which would save money in hospitalizations, and tackling obesity and chronic diseases. These would all save money that would be able to be used to provide coverage to those that don't have it now. He ends by saying he doesn't have all the answers and is still putting together his health care. He is still researching and if he sees something that is good, he doesn't mind stealing it. This got laughter from the crowd.

There is question from a UAW member from the Maytag plant in Newton that is closing. She asks what Obama is going to do to keep manufacturing jobs here. Obama gave three things that he would do. First, he said we can't stop companies from deciding to relocate. However, we don't have to be providing incentives to them for moving overseas. We need to reward companies that do the right thing by providing incentives for companies that create jobs here. This is basically John Kerry's position from 2004. Second, Obama says we must invest in infrastructure. He says 80% of Korea has broadband, there is no reason we don't have broadband access in rural areas here. Finally, we need a Manhattan style project for renewable energy and green technology. This will create new technologies and industries. Then we need to retrain our workers for these industries. He mentions green building techniques, but fails to mention anything about conservation or raising CAFE standards as key steps in an energy policy. Overall, his answer on renewable energy was pretty good. Obama then says we are not as tough as we should be when trade deals are negotiated. He says we need to encourage trade, but make sure it benefits not just Wall Street, but the average American also.

The next question was from a high school teacher, who asks about No Child Left Behind. Obama says that it shouldn't be up to only teachers when it comes to education. We need parents that don't let kids play video games all the time, students that don't take their educations for granted and want to be there, and communities that value education by paying teachers more. Obama says that he is behind the major goals of NCLB of raising standards and providing highly qualified teachers. However, the problem with NCLB is through the implementation, the way assessment is being done, and that it is under funded. His answer shows that he has a clear understanding of No Child Left Behind and how it needs to be changed.

The next question was probably the most intense question of the day. It was about why the Democratic Party has abandoned the workers and support amnesty for illegal immigrants. Obama began by talking about how unions have weakened and how he has worked to prevent the influence of lobbyists and special interests. The person that asked the question then specifically asks about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Obama then layed his immigration stance. He would have stronger border enforcement and stricter employer sanctions for those hire illegal immigrants to prevent more people from crossing the border. Then we have to provide a pathway to citizenship because it is impossible to round up 12 million people. Economically it would cost too much to do so. We should have illegal immigrants that are here pay a fine, learn English, make sure they have a clean record, and then provide a chance to gain citizenship. He says this is a comprehensive approach and is realistic. His answer garnered a lot of applause from the crowd that knows the immigration first hand after the immigration raid that took place in December. Two people that I know are independents and former Bush voters said that his answer to the immigration was fantastic.

The final question was from a college student about rising college tuition. Obama gave two specific things he would do to provide immediate results. First, he explained that there are two types of students loans. One is directly from the government. The other is a promise from the government to banks to provide loans. Currently, banks make $2 billion a year profit off of these loans. He is all for banks for making money, but not on the backs of our kids going to college. Second, he would expand national service plans for those going into jobs like teaching, social work, and others, so that they tuition will be forgiven.

Obama then says he has to make a pitch for your support in the Iowa caucuses. He says he knows that Iowans like to look under the hood, kick the tires, and take the candidates out for a test drive, but he hopes they will support him. He then urges everyone in attendance that if they aren't going to support him, then please support someone in the caucuses because this race is far too important to sit on the sidelines. This was a noble call that was very impressive.

I know that three of the most active Democratic women in town signed pledge cards to support Obama. This will turn out to be a big help to Obama's campaign here and will hurt Hillary because she won't be able to use the gender card. Overall, though, the biggest endorsement in town will still be that of the UAW.

I came away more impressed with Obama than I did after the Ames event because I learned more about his positions on the issues. His positions aren't as well-defined as John Edwards' are, but then Obama hasn't been running for president since 2003. Obama still has time to fine tune his positions and come out with specific policies. Today, I learned there is at least some meat on the bones. The overall feeling from talking to people after the event, the agreement was that he didn't seem to be a smooth politician, but a nice guy with the right priorities.

Tom and Christy Vilsack are speaking right now at the DFA training in the Cedar Rapids. They are focusing on clean elections and grassroots organizing.

Christy Vilsack is speaking right now about grassroots organizing and what she would call "going coffee shopping." When Vilsack first ran for governor in 1998, Christy was first responsible for visiting the second or third tier counties (Tom would go the larger counties). Christy would go into these towns without a schedule and would just stop where Democratic voters might be in the town. She would stop at the schools and talk to the teachers. She would stop at the library, the local small town newspapers, and eventually the stop at the coffee shop.

Tom Vilsack thanks the Dean family for bringing the grassroots democracy back into politics in America. He gives credit to Howard Dean for the 50 state strategy and says that is the only way to do it. It is the best way to grow the party. He thanks the activist who worked the grassroots here in the 2nd district to help elect Dave Loebsack.

The main part of Tom Vilsack's speech is about campaign finance and specificly VOICE (HF 805). He says his hope for his Presidential campaign was that he could win Iowa and New Hampshire and turn that into the money to run competively in the other states. However, when California, New Jersey and some of the other large states began to move up their primary dates it made it impossible for some to compete

Legislation being considered in Iowa that would put reasonable limits on state house races and for governor. You wouldn't have to raise the $8 million that Gov. Culver had to raise. At the beginning of the campaign people wondered where Culver was at. He was on the phone raising enough money to run. The legislation would give candidates a chance to actually go around and talk to the voters and hear what is their minds. It is the only way to get a system where the people's business is taken care of and not those of the special interests.

As he went around running for President he would go and talk to donors. He would go and give his speil about what he wants to do and the first question asked wasn't how he could govern or what he felt about a specific issue, but can you raise the money.

Vilsack mentions the need to pass HF 805 that is stuck in committee. He doesn't hold back, saying...



He is now doing his best John Madden impersonation and drawing how the money works in the Iowa House. He says that the House members have a limited number of dollars that they can raise within their own district. The Speaker gets all of this money funneled through them where they then give to House members and then makes sure the House member remembers where they got the money from. The VOICE legislation would take this out of our political system.

Now that Democrats are in the majority, they will be focusing on raising money. To raise the money they will not be spending time talking to their constituents. They will be talking to the big money donors and their insterests might not be the same as yours.

Vilsack says that we must contact our State Representives this week because this bill is going to be discussed in committee early next week. Here is the contact information for the leaders in committee that is working on this issue...



http://commoniowan.blogspot.com

Dave Loebsack spoke over lunch at the DFA training in Cedar Rapids today. Loebsack was very well recieved and thanked the group of activists that helped him get elected in the 2nd district. Loebsack talked a lot about the Iraq War and the funding bill that was passed yesterday in the US House and took questions from the audience.

Loebsack said that he is proud of being a member of the House that passed this bill and that it was an accomplishment. The bill puts in more funding for the military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, so that the troops are equipped. Loebsack said the bill isn't exactly what he wanted, but it is a good accomplishment. Loebsack campaigned for withdrawing troops in 12 months. This bill does that in 18 months.

Loebsack quoted a recent blog post by David Sirota that quoted Saul Alinsky. Loebsack said, "start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be."

This bill reaches the goal of bringing our troops out of harms way. It might not be as fast as we would like, but the goal is accomplished. Loebsack then stressed that we keep the pressure on because the bill still has to go through the Senate and since Bush has said he is going to veto the bill.

Loebsack said he is pleased with the things that he has been able to accomplish in the House so far such as raising the minimum wage, lower college loan rates, promoting stem cell research, implementing the 9/11 commission, and address government ethics.

Loebsack finished with a couple stories about being a Congressman. He said the lifestyle of a Congressman isn't quite as glamorous as people said it would be.

http://commoniowan.blogspot.com

Yesterday, I attended the Community Meeting John Edwards held in Newton. The event was held at the UAW Hall and close to 200 people were there. Check out Iowa for Edwards for video of the event and links to news stories.

Edwards opened by saying that our next president needs real ideas and vision, but more importantly needs to be someone with honesty, openess, decency, and someone we can trust. Edwards showed that he is going to be open about his ideas throughout this campaign saying...



He then outlined his health care plan saying that it is based on shared responsibility. I would write more about the details of the plan, but the Des Moines Register did a good job doing that. Plus, I want to watch the DVD that the Edwards campaign is mailing out to 70,000 Iowans that outlines his health care plan. The biggest positive that I see in his plan is that it provides seemless care, so if you change jobs, you don't have to worry about changing your health care coverage. Edwards got the biggest ovation when he said that he would pay for the plan by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans.

Edwards spoke about 15 mintues about health care and then opened it up for questions. Edwards did very well in this setting. He was asked about a wide range of topics, answered honestly, and threw in a joke here and there.

On Iran, he said that he would work with Europe to put pressure on Iran by speaking directly to the Iranian people and attempting to drive a wedge between the people and those in power.

Edwards was asked about social security. He said the last things we should do is raise the retirement age or reduce benefits. People who work all their lives, should be able to retire, when they retire. This line got a large applause from the crowd. Edwards said he would think about keeping the cap on Social Security taxes, which is currently at $90,000, and create a bubble to $150,000 or $170,000, so that middle class people don't get hit with more taxes, yet the wealthy pay more into the fund.

The next question was on immigration and was the most interesting exchange of the day. The man began asking if Edwards considered himself a politician or American first saying that everyone is playing politics and not doing what is right for the country. Then he started asking about immigration. All in all, the man spoke for a couple minutes before Edwards could answer. When Edwards responded, he said that maybe the man should be running, which drew laughter from the audience and the man asking the question. The man responded by saying that he would rather work to get Edwards elected. This type of exchange would not have been able to take place in a larger venue, like the ones Obama and Hillary have had here, or Edwards' announcement in Des Moines in December. It is these exchanges that make the Iowa Caucuses unique and helps Iowans really get to know the candidates.

Edwards' response to the question on immigration was that first and foremost it is a border security issue. He said that the current situation is not sustainable. Next, he would have much tougher laws on employers. Finally, the people here should have a chance to earn citizenship. He stressed the word earn by saying they should pay a fine if they came here illegally, they should learn to speak English, and follow the laws.

The next person thanked Edwards for dropping out of the Nevada debate sponsored by Fox News. Radio Iowa wrote about the question and Edwards responds by saying...



There's another question about health care. Edwards says that nearly half of all bankruptcies are due to medical costs and that you are more likely today to file for bankruptcy than for divorce. He then had a good line, saying that those in Washington that say the economy is doing great in America, should come visit the people in Newton and see what it is really like. Edwards the goes on to say that some say universal health care is for the 47 million Americans that are uninsured. He believes it is a moral issue to provide insurance to these people, but his plan is much more. It is for everyone who is stuck in a system that isn't working.

Edwards then said that baby steps won't work anymore to solve the issues we face today, not health care, not ridding our addiction to oil, not in Iraq, and that we need real leadership on these issues.

Then a student from Grinnell College asks about the rising cost of college tuition. Edwards discussed his College for Everyone plan that he put into place in 2005 in North Carolina. The plan is if you graduate from college and have the grades to go to college, you get your books and tuition paid if you work 10 hours a week. He discusses our debt for diploma system by saying this plan decreases the debt load students have.

Finally, there is a question from State Senator Dennis Black about ethanol. Edwards says that we need a comphensive investment in developing renewable energy such as ethanol, solar, wind, biofuels, and new technology. We need to conserve and need more fuel efficient vehicles and buildings. Then we need to cap emissions and he would have a cap and trade system. He then transitioned into talking about global warming saying that the situation is an emergency. He close by saying that it is time for the President to ask Americans to be patriotic about something besides war.

At this event, I got a better understanding of where he stood on the issues. I wish he would have talked some about NAFTA, Fair Trade, and outsourcing American jobs. This was the place to bring these issues up.

At his official announcement in Des Moines back in December, Edwards gave a motivating speech that called you to get involved in making America better. I was pumped when I left the event. However, I felt that Edwards was close to be right on the issues, but not quite there yet. At this event, Edwards got a step closer.

Also posted at http://commoniowan.blogspot.com/2007/02/re...

I mentioned yesterday I would post updates on the immigration summit and failed to do so because of the power outage. So here it is...

The Marshalltown Times Republican, who sponsored the event, wrote a good summary piece of the day's events here. They begin by saying...



This was the thing that I came away from the event noticing most. The tensions at the event were high. It was almost as interesting listening to the comments from the people around me than it was to listen to panelists.

Audience members were allowed to write down questions for the panelists. During the couple hours I was there, there were 4 outbursts from audience members who disagreed with something the panelists said. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think one women was part of 2 or 3 of the outburts and bet that she didn't make it to the end of the event. During one of the outbursts, the person referred to the damage illegal aliens are doing to our nation. Another audience had this clever response...



On a question that was pointed at pinning rising health costs to illegal immigrants, the panelist said...



Here was another interesting question and answer from one of the panelists that received some postive and negative reactions from the audience...



One question asked was what are our schools doing to teach our students about not becoming xenophobic (which was defined as the fear of foriegners)? The answer pretty much summed up the immigration debate, or lack thereof. One panelist, who works for the school district said he is lucky to work with kids because they don't see people as legal or illegal, they see them as who they are. Another panelist said people are unfamilar with the other culture and this produces fear. However, if they get to know the other culture they might actually find out they can learn something from it.

And finally this question was directed to Rep. Latham, who had already left. It takes the thinking on the immigration issue to the next level, beyond what we can do here in Iowa. This needs to be addressed and should become a key component to any comprehensive immigration reform.



Any ideas?

The Des Moines Register has a story saying that Swift and Co. is back to normal production levels two months after the immigration raids. Unfortanately, it looks our illegal employer problem will continue and Swfit and Co. even got some free advertising from the immigration raids. A Swift's spokesperson had this to say about their recent hires...



You would think that after 10% of your workforce is arrested, you would have to change your hiring practices, but no...



Why would Swift and Co. change their hiring practices when they haven't been punished at all?

Cross posted at Century of the Common Iowan

I attended the Barak Obama event in Ames at Hilton Coliseum and live blogged it at Century of the Common Iowan. Here it is...

Russ Feingold is going to introduce legislation tomorrow to establish a timeline to redeploy our troops from Iraq. Feingold would keep enough troops in Iraq to run counter-terrorism activities, training of Iraqi security forces, and the protection of U.S. infrastructure and personnel. Russ was the first senator to call for redeployment back in August of 2005 and co-sponsored a bill in July of last year that would have required troops to withdrawn from Iraq by July of 2007.

Feingold says...



After 9/11 the goal is to better protect America. Having 140,000 American troops bogged down in Iraq does not help accomplish that goal. Some might even say that the goal after 9/11 was to track down Osama bin Laden. Having 140,000 American troops bogged down in Iraq does not help accomplish that goal.

Instead, we must focus our efforts on serious national security threats. Iraq is diverting our resources from fighting terrorism in an effective manner, so we must focus our efforts to serious national security threats.

Feingold continues to lead on important issues by taking a principled stand. Will the new Democratic Congress stand with him?



http://commoniowan.blogspot.com/2007/01/fe...
http://iowafeingold.blogspot.com

I just got home from the John Edwards Town Hall Meeting in Des Moines. As a blogger, I was able to attend a pre-meeting with Edwards prior to the Town Hall meeting. There were 11 bloggers there and John came and talked for about 10 min. He was asked about how Vilsack entering the race affected the Iowa Caucuses. Edwards said that Vilsack is popular and should be, but he feels he knows the caucus goers here pretty well. He answered a couple other questions and then went to get ready for the Town Hall meeting. I made my way down to the ground floor of Historical Building. The crowd was huge, with people lined up the stairways and were up on the 2nd floor.

I made my way around the crowd and found myself along the side in the press section. I was in a group of people and was told that we had to move out of the walkway because of firecode. Then one of the volunteers, that I had met earlier, said that I was part of the media (because I was a blogger) and I could stay. That was pretty cool. I had a prime spot on the side of the stage and was just a few feet from O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa, Mike Glover of the AP, the KCCI TV Camera, and a reporter from the Des Moines Register.

Edwards was introduced and made his way to the stage. I couldn't quite hear what the intro music was, but some was playing. Edwards began by asking people to participate and stayed on that theme throughout the event. Edwards said, "We need to bring about the change this country and Iowa needs." He said this cause begins with the grassroots and he wants people to hear our voice and Edwards wants to hear from you. It all depends on engagement and people getting involved. If a person didn't know that Edwards was running for President, they would have thought he was part of some community group asking for its members to volunteer.



Edwards talked about regaining the moral leadership in the world and that begins in Iraq. He said we need to make it clear we aren't staying in Iraq and the best way to do that is by leaving. He stressed that if we want to be moral leaders in the world, we must tell the truth to the world and to the American people. Edwards then said he was wrong for voting for this war, but he is accepting the responsibility for the vote. Bush and Cheney are responsible for the way the war has been handled.

Edwards ended by saying that the power is not in Washington, it is right here. He said, "we have to take the responsibilty. We have to take the action."



It was then time for questions from the audience. I didn't take notes on all of the questions, but he answered questions on Israel, Iran, Renewable Energy, and No Child Left Behind. There were 2 that did stick out. The first was on immigration, an issue that hit central Iowa this month. Edwards said that we have 3 options. First, we can pretend there is no problem. Second, we can try to find 11 million illegal immigrants and deport them. He said these first 2 options aren't resonable and that leaves only one option. We can secure our borders and then find a way that those people here can become citizens. Those immigrants that have been living here and following the laws need a way to become citizens. The other question that stood out was on the national deficit. Edwards said that the deficit and balancing the budget requires some tough choices. He said that it is about priorities and in the short term his priorities would be on universal health care, renewable energy, poverty, and regaining the moral leadership in the world. He said he isn't going to promise to do this and cut taxes and balance the budget at the same time because that can't be done. This was an honest answer, but I think he could have handled it better. He could have mentioned that if he was president, we would not be spending millions of dollars a day in Iraq. He could have said we could repeal the Bush tax cuts and crack down on corporations that have moved their headquarters overseas.

As I walked into the event, Ed Fallon was there taking tickets and passing out literature. I was surprised to Ed there because I didn't think he would be get behind a candidate so early. Edwards' them is similar to the theme of Fallon's campaign for Governor in the primary: stressing universal health care and fighting for the underdog. During the event, Ed was sitting right behind the stage. Getting Fallon's support is a big gain for Edwards.

Overall, I was impressed with Edwards' honesty. His answers weren't read from a script. He took his time to think through the questions and then he gave you his best answer. That part was refreshing. Also, his call for action is one needed and one you are not likely to see from other candidates. In the end, if Edwards wins the nomination and becomes President, I don't think he will think he ran a successful campaign if the only thing people do is vote for him.

Edwards walked off the stage while Mellencamp's Our Country and then John Mayer's Waiting for the World to Change played.

For more information check out my blog, Century of the Common Iowan.